Once it’s ready, fine strain to remove the solids and store in a swing top glass bottle in a dark and cool place until required. Peeling chestnuts is one of those things that are good for your karma if you can get through the process without throwing things at the wall. The minimum requirement is a long radio play to keep you sane while you are doing it.

Boil the chestnuts in plenty of water in two equal batches for 20 minutes. Take the first batch off the heat and leave them in the water to keep them hot. Don a rubber glove and remove one chestnut. Make a cut two thirds of the way around the flat face of the skin and peel it away then ease the rest of the nut out of the skin. If the chestnuts are fresh both the outer and the more troublesome inner skin will come away at the same time. Boil and peel the second batch. Place the nuts in a wide saucepan and cook very gently in 200ml of water for another 10 minutes with the lid on and without stirring. Carefully remove the nuts and stir in the sugar until dissolved. Return the nuts to the pan and cook gently with the lid off for another five. Place the nuts in a Kilner jar, add the liquor via a fine sieve then add the brandy. Fiona Nevile on Working hard on the cottage Dear Veronica, So good to hear from you. I'd love to hear all your news - I often think about you and wonder how it's going for you both... Yes, it's… Place in a cool and dark spot, and give the jar a gentle roll every 2 days until it’s ready. It takes a minimum of 4 to 6 weeks. Taste as you go to ensure it’s to your liking. Make a slit in the skin of the chestnut and roast in a hot oven. Once cooked, and while the chestnuts are still hot, carefully peel the hard exterior shell and fine skin.

Lila Wiese on Perennial vegetables: Tree cabbage Maybe I missed someone stating this but is it possible to obtain seeds for this in the US? From Saint-Tropez, I drove the first of the winding roads past the town of Grimaud to La Garde-Freinet, a village perched high over the coast where the bric-a-brac shops and galleries sandwiched between family-run restaurants reveal a gentler pace of life than the Riviera. I climbed up to the ruined medieval fort on the hill behind and looked down upon the jumble of terracotta roofs and amber and peach-hued streets. Maison Briottet maintains a very high level of quality. It is the selection of the ripest fruit, locally sourced where possible, from the most suitable cultivars that provides for the finest flavours. The first step on the ladder in the process is contracting the right growers to produce the finest, best quality, ripe fruit. Then, at the headquarters, the fruits undergo carefully observed maceration with very pure neutral alcohol and blending with the correct proportion of sugars to achieve the balance between fruit flavour, sweetness, acidity and alcohol to create top of the range crèmes and liqueurs. As described in the last chestnut post, use a small bladed knife. Start at the tip and work down towards the base, choosing the flatter side of the nut. The rest of the shell peels away easily if you can remove the base of the nut first. When the chestnuts have softened it™s easy to remove the skins if you snap the nuts in half, the skin should easily peel away. We found that the nuts that were still hard were the bad ones. Discard these as they would taint the good nuts.

Chestnut liqueur is the perfect way to finish off an autumnal Italian dinner: one because it’s also a digestivo, and two because it’s not fall if there are no chestnuts on the table, right? With Thanksgiving upon us and then Christmas around the corner, this is the right time to make this liqueur as a gift for friends! Don’t discard the macerated chestnuts. They can be used in desserts or dehydrated and used as garnish. If you find any joy, use or help in it, please consider a modest donation - however much you can afford when it comes from the heart, it's the kind of gesture that makes me warm with appreciation. In this recipe, brandy is used as the base alcohol. If using high proof rectified spirit, the maceration time will be reduced.In a small saucepan, bring the demerara sugar and water to the boil. Simmer for two minutes then leave to cool. Fiona Nevile on Perennial vegetables: Tree cabbage Hi Lila, Thanks for your comment. You need to look for seeds on your side of the water, unfortunately :0( Import rewsrictions are tough. Something sim… This week’s recipe was actually several weeks in the works. Inspired by yet another wander through our grocery store, Chris happened upon a bag of Chestnuts and immediately knew he wanted to give Chestnut Orgeat a try – for a couple of reasons: Hi, I was given a huge bag of chestnuts in the autumn and froze them whole (following advice read here).